Observations

That’s a LOT of zero’s.

I reluctantly tweeted during the game that I thought James Wright was playing “okay”. He did apparently try to move the puck into the offensive zone, but like everyone else had little success in doing so. Similar to my criticisms for the Ladd-Little-Wheeler line, it’s no good when you can’t create anything when you get the puck deep.

Evander Kane was once again the only Jet who was really able to do anything. He had less success than usual off of Scheifele’s entries, but was able to create chances off of his own. One thing I’ve noticed a lot thus far this year is how effectively Kane can find an open spot of the ice, chip it there, and beat everyone else to it. It doesn’t hurt that if he isn’t the first there, he’s aggressively forechecking whoever was.

Wheeler had another ugly game in terms of creating anything from his entries. He really needs to get his game going. Quick.

Don’t be fooled by the lower number of successful entries Minnesota had. The Jets were often one (or less) and done, whereas Minnesota was able to get the puck in and really grind it out.

Although I think the effectiveness of faceoffs is somewhat overblown, getting one shot on ten offensive zone faceoffs is…yikes.

Pavelec Performance

Despite the high shot against total once again, in my opinion Pavelec wasn’t as… “spectacular” as he has been previously this year. Don’t get me wrong - he was still the best Jet on the ice. What I’m saying is that Minnesota was generally unable to create or really hit the net on a lot of their chances (my chances post will be up Friday afternoon). It seemed to me they spent a lot of the game grinding and just throwing the puck towards the net in hopes of rebounds. Credit where credit is due though, Pavelec did a solid job again.

Goal

Situation

Reason It Went In

Where It Went

1

Odd Man Rush

Unlucky Bounce

Open Net

2

‘Average Play’ – DZF Loss

Rebound

Left Pad

Quick Explanations

I’m not blaming this one on Pavelec. An odd man rush was created because of a poorly timed, rather lame attempt at a “forecheck” from Scheifele. Cooke was then able to practically break in alone and throw a high shot that Pavelec was able to stop. The rebound unfortunately bounced off of a player in front, and into the open net.

This second one does have to go on Pavelec though. A weak shot from a weird angle resulted in the puck just stopping underneath Pav’s pad. He then got complacent and hoped for a whistle rather than being proactive, and Matt Cooke was able to take advantage. It almost seemed like Pavelec didn’t know exactly where the puck was and was therefore afraid to move. **I stuck this one in the “rebound” category, as it seems to fit there best**

Things To Watch For

The Jets fly right back home to play the patiently waiting Stars on Friday night, in a game that will really give us an idea of the attitude this team has. Here are a few things to watch for:

What will the effort level look like? It’s well known we here in Winnipeg will have nothing to do with a team that doesn’t seem to be trying. Yet again, in what seems like an all too often occurrence, the Jets’ “give a crap” level was called into question Thursday night. Will they be able to respond?

Will Pavelec start again? Pavelec has terrible numbers on the second game of a back to back. He’s played very well thus far so you would think that Noel would have him starting anyways. Especially considering how badly this team needs a good game. Personally, I would rather see him go with Montoya. It’s a long year and these ups and downs will happen. Get Montoya some ice time and don’t subject Pavelec, who has to be feeling rather confident in himself right now, to a potentially ugly situation.

Will Wheeler show up? This seems to be a common theme for every one of these articles. Blake Wheeler needs to get going, or Noel needs to think about shaking up that top line. (Not like he has many options)

Final Thought

Thursday some news came that both broke my heart and pissed me off. Kyle Wellwood is reportedly retiring if he doesn’t receive an offer in North America relatively soon. It’s sad to see him go, but I seriously have to question if every player the Jets have signed right now is better than Kyle Wellwood. It sure seems to me like they could use his help with puck possession, and you know he isn’t going to demand a lot of money. I’m not ready to see the end of #TeamWelly forever.

I write things, you read them. Then tend to yell at me for them. It's okay though, I'm from Winnipeg. I can take it. If you actually do like what I write, give me a twitter follow here (@thrubeniuk): https://twitter.com/thrubeniuk

I have to disagree on that first goal, Travis. I thought that shoulder rebound was a problem. Cooke takes a weak snap shot from in front of his foot. That Pav is surprised where it goes is worrisome enough, that he loses track of it from there and lets it bounce toward the open side of the net is worse.

On the second goal, the Jets should have boxed Cooke out, but I agree that it's bizarre Pav doesn't seem to know where it is or what to do with it.

Goals are rarely just the goalie's fault, obviously, and both times the team screwed up in front of him. A team probably should score 4 on 2, but the process still left something to be desired for me.

Yeah I had a tough time making a decision on the first goal. It could have been handled better by Pavelec if he would have simply reacted in a more positive way/just caught the puck (again, I question his glove hand).

Ultimately though, my decision came down mainly to the fact that had the puck not gone exactly where it did, or if Brodin hadn't been exactly where he was, this puck wouldn't have ended up in the net.

It will be a rare occurrence, but I felt here I could somewhat justify giving him a bit of a break.